The present invention relates to a process for acquiring an image by xe2x80x9cpush-broomxe2x80x9d scanning by at least one array of sensors of the charge coupled type CCD travelling past the observed area.
The invention advantageously finds application to the satellite observation of the earth or else to observation from aerial vehicles (airplane, drone, etc).
The Applicant has already proposed, in their patent application FR 95 09263, a process for acquiring images by means of arrays or matrices of CCD sensors, according to which the array or matrix is oriented with respect to the direction of movement in such a way as to carry out an oversampling while attenuating the effects of the spectral aliasing.
An object of the invention is to propose an acquisition which makes it possible to achieve finer samplings.
To this end, it proposes a process for acquiring an image by push-broom scanning from a satellite or aerial vehicle carrying at least one array of sensors of charge coupled type, characterized in that the attitude and the angular rates of roll, pitch and yaw of the vehicle are controlled so that the longitudinal and lateral ground speeds of the array satisfy             V      Longi        =                  ±                  m                                    m              2                        +                          l              2                                          ·              V        ref                        V      lateral        =                  ±                  l                                    m              2                        +                          l              2                                          ·              V        ref            
where Vref=P/Ti, P being the footprint of the array, Ti the sampling period, m and l two integers.